Bandwidth management may involve a variety of different challenges, including the problem of optimizing a network connection for use by a computing device, such as for use by an application involving network access. Conventional techniques for bandwidth management, however, could be inaccurate, especially when faced with a wireless network connection.
For example, in conventional techniques an application tried to estimate instantaneous available bandwidth of a channel and then transmit at that rate. This approach was generally employed for conventional wired connections such as ASDL, where the bandwidth is relatively constant over time and therefore this technique could be a good predictor in such instances. However, the approach may be problematic on wireless channel where the available bandwidth may vary rapidly over time. Therefore, reliance upon instantaneously available bandwidth as in conventional techniques may not be a good indication of the future bandwidth.